Teen cleared in St. Paul assault, charged in Minneapolis fight

Article by: Chao Xiong

Star Tribune

January 28, 2014 - 9:22 PM

When Issac O. Maiden was acquitted last November in the near-fatal attack on Ray Widstrand in St. Paul, Ramsey County District Judge Salvador Rosas warned the 19-year-old to change his life or he’d wind up back in court.

He apparently didn’t listen.

No more than a month later, Maiden got into a street fight in a Minneapolis intersection with a 16-year-old boy, according to a report from the University of Minnesota Police Department.

“Officer(s) intervened and stopped the two,” the report read. “Both were issued citations for disorderly conduct.”

The incident occurred about 1:07 a.m. on Dec. 27 at 26th Avenue and Delaware Street SE., a mixed residential and industrial neighborhood a few blocks from campus.

Maiden was cited for disorderly conduct at the scene and released. The 16-year-old boy was cited for disorderly conduct and a curfew violation and was taken to the curfew center in Minneapolis.

Neither required medical treatment, according to the police report. No further details about the incident were available, including what prompted the fight. University of Minnesota police Sgt. Peter Reineke said university officers happened upon the fight while on a regular patrol.

Maiden was charged last summer in the brutal attack Aug. 4 on Widstrand on St. Paul’s East Side. He was acquitted in November after jurors heard confusing and conflicting testimony from several teen witnesses about what happened. Authorities have said that they believe members or associates of St. Paul gangs were responsible for the attack on Widstrand, 27, who suffered a critical brain injury and is receiving therapy for mental and physical disabilities.

Cindarion D. Butler, 17, was tried as an adult and convicted earlier this month of aiding and abetting first-degree assault and first-degree robbery for his role in the attack. One juvenile has pleaded guilty and another — the one who allegedly threw that first punch — is charged in juvenile court with the possibility of being tried as an adult. The case against a third juvenile was dismissed.

When Maiden was acquitted, Rosas delivered a stern warning, saying that if Maiden didn’t change his life, “I have no doubt you’ll be back.”

Maiden has a hearing in February in Hennepin County for the disorderly conduct citation.